How often do you take the stairs? Did you know that stair climbing is one of the safest, most effective ways to make fitness gains and burn fat fast?

Stair Climbing is one of the safest, most effective workouts available for urban dwellers.

If I ever move into a high rise building, I would probably stair climb almost every day because it’s that sustainable. When I stair climb with my clients in various buildings, I end up burning more fat from my own body than what I even expected. My cardiovascular system made some serious improvements when I started to incorporate stair climbing into my life and now I am a strong advocate for stair climbing.

Climb up the stairs, take the elevator down.

One of the reasons that stair climbing up a building is so sustainable is that it’s very unlikely that you’ll experience any soreness from the activity since there is little-to-no eccentric portion of movement. It’s different if you have to go outside and return down the stairs because the downhill part is often what gets your calves and knees a bit more sore (tear down of muscles and other tissue). Of course you’ll get a lot of benefits from stairs outside, but there is just something unique about being able to climb a tall building and take the elevator down. You’ll recover way faster and it won’t impede other activities or training goals. Lots of benefit without the soreness.

Throwback to my first Big Climb

Disease prevention.

Because stair climbing is SO good for the heart and because there are many WELL KNOWN benefits of moderate-high intensity exercise, there is a good chance that regular stair climbing can help with healthy aging and longevity. If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I’m not just passionate about fitness, I also care deeply about disease prevention and healthy aging. I’ve met too many people and I’ve had too many people in my life who have suffered through illness, sickness, and disease and I don’t believe it’s their fault — I do believe that we can do something about it though!

Give your body a reason to keep going.

As I mentioned earlier, I have many other motivations to take care of myself aside from “looking the part” for my career as a fitness professional. First of, I’ve experienced moments in my life when my body has let me down and caused me great distress along with emotional pain. Secondly, I have worked with people who have experienced all different types of ailments that I realized there’s no point trying to prevent one disease; you need to make effort to prevent ALL disease. The funny thing is that when you live a lifestyle that is truly about disease prevention, you end up feeling better about yourself AND burning more potentially harmful fat off of your body.

My very first Big Climb team

It’s okay to run out of excuses.

I am constantly fighting my own desire for comfort in order to make forward progress. My own meaning of purpose in life and my value to other people manifests from the knowledge and experience that I have and also my relatability — I struggle too. When I look at my experiences, I’ve noticed that in times when I am experiencing the most pain and discomfort are the times that I have made the most growth. I truly believe in disease prevention and I truly believe in the cure. It’s not just about personality responsibility, folks. We’re all in this together.

If my mission has moved you, consider contributing to my Big Climb 2018 fight to cure Leukemia and Lymphoma.

Dre Fitness is back. My readership of the blog has grown even though I haven’t been as active lately tells me that people appreciate the content that I create. I can only imagine how many people I can reach if I just stay consistent with content creation while continuing to be as authentic and genuine as I can be. Stay tuned for more!

I’ve been asked lately about what I’ve been eating so here is a quick post to share with you today. You can see that even though I aim for nutrient dense foods, I also intake some inflammatory foods which I think is inevitable in real life.

1:45 PM: 16oz of coconut water (I just love a cold coconut water after the workout, not that I scientifically think it’s the best post-workout. It just makes me feel better than any of the hundred other post-workout drinks I’ve tried)

3:00 PM: 24oz of Wild Alaskan King Salmon. Took 20oz of fresh spinach and steamed it/ate it. Also 2 bundles of chard which I boiled and ate that. Only had half an avocado because I was getting so full from the veggies.

5:30 PM – 9PM (coaching)

9:45 PM: Organic grass fed raw home-made Kefir (PROBIOTIC)

Wednesday:

5:40 AM: Chlorella algae powder w/ matcha

6:15 AM: Workout

7:20 AM: Post-workout, I had the Boar’s Head, “Rainier,” sandwhich from the QFC deli in Broadway Market w/ a coconut water of course. Another Brew Dr. Kombucha, this time “Clear Mind” flavor.

8:00 AM – 1:00 PM (coaching)

10:20 AM: During a quick break between coaching HIIT classes, I drank part of store bought Kefir called “Grace Harbor Farms, Plain Kefir” from QFC. This particular brand IS real legitimate kefir, unlike many store brands.

11:40 AM: Drank the other half of the bottle of kefir (Sometimes I only get a few moments to consume anything so I try to make it count, or otherwise I go too many hours without eating probably).

Planning ahead for tomorrow

Tomorrow I’ve planned that I will have more salmon/greens because today wasn’t my best eating day. I’ve taken on more work and helped other trainers at OTF so I notice that when my schedule becomes more demanding, I find it more challenging to consume the top foods. I’m sure you can relate.

I can’t wait to get salmon back in my body.

I already know that I’m going to have my matcha/chlorella around 4:00AM tomorrow. By 9AM, I’ll have some pastured eggs meal similar to that I had on Monday. Then when 3-4PM rolls around, I’ll be preparing my meal of fresh salmon / greens that I’ll have just picked up from the store. I try to go to bed around 8PM because if I get less than 6 hours of sleep, I already know it’s going to be a STRUGGLE to choose healthy foods. Sleep is so crucial for making the right choices.

Tomorrow will be a new day though, with more opportunities for nutrient dense food. It’s not glamorous that I have to wash a bunch of pots and pans to keep up with my cooking, but you just gotta do what you gotta do. I sometimes remind myself what a blessing it is to have access to some of the best nutrition in the world here in my city of Seattle. Why let the opportunity slip by?

Everybody should know about Omega-3, Vitamin D, whey protein, etc by now but how many people are RAGING about green superfood powders? You should know about this, especially if you’re on a calorie restricted diet.

The Science of Nutrition continues to make advances in discovering the keys to a fat loss lifestyle.

When it comes to burning fat, there is one thing we all have in common: IT’S NEVER EASY. Okay, well maybe it’s easy for a short period of time, but for sustainable fat loss and lean lifestyle it will definitely take some effort. Continue reading →